Halifax-based mental health technology company AIR (the Atlantic Institute for Resilience) has received encouraging feedback from a digital pilot with Shannex, a provider of living options and care for older adults.

Supported by a CAN Health Network commercialization project aimed at improving workforce mental health, the initiative helped employees strengthen their emotional well-being, CAN Health said in a statement. Participants reported a 22 percent average increase in overall resilience, and 95 percent said they learned skills helpful for managing stressful situations.

“The medical system isn’t built to identify mental health risks early and too many employees slip through the cracks. AIR is a non-clinical, evidence-based solution that identifies employees at risk, builds real skills for resilience, and keeps people well and working,” said Jackie Kinley, company founder and CEO.  

AIR’s skill-building software, known as the BrainGym, allows frontline workers to take a proactive approach to mental health. The aim is to allow individuals to manage their well-being before challenges become complex mental health concerns.

Participants use the BrainGym in their own time with the support of a resilience coach. Employees in the Shannex test spent almost 1,000 hours in AIR’s BrainGym, with each person spending an average of 9.2 hours on the platform.

AIR first partnered with the CAN Health Network a year ago, forming an agreement that allows AIR to collaborate with health organizations across Canada.

AIR was founded in 2014 by Kinley, a psychiatrist. She aimed to develop programs to boost resilience among workers.

Resilience is the capacity to not only endure but to grow through challenge and adversity, Kinley told Entrevestor in an earlier interview.

“Resilience can be developed. It has several aspects, including mental, emotional and social. Emotional resilience enables us to respond, not react. It helps us know our limits and when we need to slow down and relax.

“Low resilience puts people at risk of illness and injury. And we know the immense costs this assumes in human, social and economic terms.”

The company said statistics show that one in four employees report being highly stressed, with almost two-thirds saying their work is their primary source of stress. Post-pandemic, high levels of stress, burnout, turnover, and disability costs are impacting many sectors.

Kinley said resilience training can return people to their earlier, healthier selves.

“We are born well. We’re born wired a certain way, but we pick up habits of mind and behaviour that don’t serve us; they hinder our performance.”

AIR’s beachhead market is long-term care facilities and health care organizations in Eastern Canada and the United States.

The company has completed Propel’s Traction and Growth program for scaling companies and Invest Nova Scotia’s Accelerate program.